The second son,THE REV JOHN VANDELEUR, of Cragg, County Clare, Rector of Kilrush, County Clare, seating himself at Kilrush in 1687, wedded Elizabeth, daughter and co-heir of Thomas Crofton, of Inchirourke, County Limerick, by whom he left, besides a younger son, Thomas, an elder son,JOHN VANDELEUR, of Kilrush, who married Frances, daughter of John Ormsby, of Cloghans, County Mayo; and had issue,

CROFTON VANDELEUR, of Kilrush, who wedded, in 1765, Alice, daughter of Thomas Burton (uncle of Francis P Burton, 2nd Lord Conyngham), of Buncraggy, by Dorothy his wife, daughter of the Rt Hon John Forster, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas for Ireland, and had issue,

The eldest son,THE RT HON JOHN ORMSBY VANDELEUR (1765-1828), Commissioner of the Customs for Ireland, MP for Ennis, 1802, married the Lady Frances Moore, daughter of Charles, 1st Marquess of Drogheda, and had issue,

CROFTON MOORE, his heir;Henry Seymour Moore;Anna Frances; Alice.

The Rt Hon J O Vandeleur was succeeded by his elder son,CROFTON MOORE VANDELEUR JP DL (1808-81), of Kilrush House, Colonel, Clare Regiment of Militia, High Sheriff, 1832, MP for Clare, 1859-74, who married, in 1832, the Lady Grace Graham-Toler, second daughter of Hector John, 2nd Earl of Norbury, and had issue,

Colonel Vandeleur was succeeded by his eldest son,HECTOR STEWART VANDELEUR (1836-1909), of Kilrush House, Lord-Lieutenant of County Clare, High Sheriff, 1873, who married, in 1867, Charlotte, eldest daughter of William Orme Foster MP, of Apsley Park, Shropshire, and had issue,

From 1881 until Kilrush House was burnt in 1897, Hector Stewart Vandeleur lived mainly in London and only spent short periods each year in Kilrush.

Indeed during the years 1886-90, which coincided with the period of the greatest number of evictions from the Vandeleur estate, he does not appear to have visited Kilrush.

In 1889, Hector bought Cahircon House and then it was only a matter of time before the Vandeleurs moved to Cahircon as, in 1896, they were organising shooting parties at Kilrush House and also at the Cahircon demesne.

Hector Stewart Vandeleur was the last of the Vandeleurs to be buried at Kilrush in the family mausoleum.

Cahircon House was sold in 1920, ending the Kilrush Vandeleurs' direct association with County Clare.Hector Vandeleur had, by 1908, agreed to sell the Vandeleur estate to the tenants for approximately twenty years' rent, and the majority of the estate was purchased by these tenants.

************

THE VANDELEURS, as landlords, lost
lands during the Land Acts and the family moved to Cahircon, near
Kildysart.

In 1897, Kilrush House was badly damaged by fire.

During the Irish
Land Commission of the 1920s, the Department of Forestry took over the
estate, planted trees in the demesne and under their direction the
remains of the house were removed in 1973, following an accident in the
ruins.

The Kilrush demesne was purchased by the Irish Department of Agriculture as trustee under the Irish Land Acts solely for the purpose of forestry.

The Kilrush Committee for Urban Affairs purchased the Fair Green and Market House.

The demesne, now Kilrush Wood, lies to the east of the town.

The remains of Kilrush House were demolished in 1973.The site is now a car park and picnic area and all the original stones from the house are now underneath this area.

A number of street names in the town of Kilrush are named after the Vandeleurs: Frances Street after Lady Frances, wife of Hon John Ormsby Vandeleur; Grace Street after Lady Grace Vandeleur; Hector Street after Hector Stewart, son of Crofton Moore; Moore Street after a common family name of the Vandeleurs, probably after Lady Frances Moore, wife of John Ormsby Vandeleur; Burton Street after Thomas Burton Vandeleur.

Former town residence ~ 50 Rutland Gate, London.First published in July, 2011.

Founded in 2007 by Timothy William Ferres: writing about a variety of topics including the Monarchy, Nobility, Gentry, Heraldry, Pageantry, History of the British Isles, Heritage, Country Houses, the National Trust, Conservation, Brackenber House School, Food, Drink, Sir P G Wodehouse, Travel.